George crouch



(N9 Mo el.)

' G1. CROUCH.

HANDLE FOR TRUNKS'.

No. 518,095. Patept ed A r. 10,1894.

AAAAAAAAAA Lmaoguwnma comumr.

NETED STA ES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE CROUCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HANDLE FOR TRUNKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,095, dated April 10, 1894.

I Application filed January 22, 1894:- Serial No. 497. (N0 m l- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE CROUCH, acitizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Handles for Trunks, of which the following is a specification.

It has heretofore been common to make handles for trunks of heavy leather straps, the ends being enlarged or T-shaped to prevent the handle drawing out from beneath loops that are fastened upon the trunk, the object being that the handle may slide more or less through the loops and lie fiat when not in use and be drawn out from the trunk sufficiently for the insertion of the hand when the trunk is to be lifted. In trunk handles of this character the loops through which the handle passes have sometimes been constructed of metal having end flanges that are fastened by nails or rivets to the trunk, but these metal loops are liable to become bent in the rough handling to which the trunks are usually subjected and either obstruct the handle from sliding through the loop or else injure the handle itself. For this reason metallic loops are objectionable for connecting the handle to the trunk, and loops of leather or similar material are most generally employed because the leather is flexible and will yield to concussion without binding the handle' within the loop, but the leather loops are subject to objection because they are easily worn and injured, especially when the trunk is allowed to stand upon its end and the weight and the chafing and rubbing action to come upon the loops that project across the handle, hence the leather loops of the handles sometimes are worn out and give way while the handle itself remains serviceable.

My present invention relates to handle loops that are made of leather or similar material that is more or less flexible and hence yields to the concussion to which such handle loops are subjected in the transportation of the trunk, and my invention consists in the combination with the trunk handle loop, of a guard plate of metal applied to the projecting surface of the handle loop outside of the handle, whereby the leather of the loop is protected from injury without lessening the efficiency of the leather loop in other respects;

that is to say, the leather loop is sufficiently flexible to accommodate itself to the handle and also to yield slightly to any concussion to which the loop may be exposed, thereby lessening the risk of the loop being torn 0E In the drawings, Figurel is an elevation of a trunk handle and its loops. Fig. 2 is a cross section at the line 00a: through the loop. Fig. 3 represents the piece of sheet metal of the preferred shape to be wrapped around the leather of the loop.

The handle A is usually provided with the T-shaped ends 2, and it is advantageously of heavy leather in layers sewed together, but the present improvement is available with any trunk handle that passes through loops.

The loops B B are of leather or similar material of the proper size and shape and secured to the trunk by nails, rivets or similar devices, as shown at 3, and the leather of the loop is bent up so as to form an opening through which the end portion of the handle A slides freely so that the handle may lie flat against the trunk or he bowed out to facilitate the grasping and handling of the trunk handle. To protect each loop I apply a guard G of metal which covers the projecting portion of the loop, and the ends of the guard pass around to the back of the loop and clip the same. This loop may be made of cast metal with a mortise through it, but I prefer to cut the same out of sheet metal in the form represented in Fig. 3, the Width of the strip'corresponding'or nearly so to the width of the handle where it passes through the loop, and the length of the strip forming the guard is sufficient to pass across the loop and the ends of the strip to be bent around the loop and clinched at the back thereof, and by making one end of the sheet metal of the guard convex and the other end concave, the two parts set closely together when the guard is wrapped around the leather of the loop, and in'this form it is not liable to scratch or injure the leather or other material of the handle, and the metal forming such guard may be subjected to suflicient pressure to cause the same to clampand firmly hold the leather of the loop, so that the guard will not slide upon the same. It will now be apparent that when the trunk may be stood upon its end, the metal of the guard receives all Wear and concussion and the leather of the loop is protected and also the handle, and all the benefits resulting from a handle loop that is slightly yielding are obtained Without the injury heretofore resulting from the loops becoming worn and injured in the handling of the trunk.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with the handle and yielding loops connected at their ends to the trunk and through which the handle passes, of metallic guards upon the surfaces of the loops in their middle portions and adjacent to the handle, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the trunk handle loop composed of leather or similar material, of a sheet metal guard crossing the central portion of the loop and having its ends turned around behind such loop and adjacent to the surface of the handle, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 19th day of January, 30 1894.

GEO. CRQUCH.

Witnesses:

GEO, T. PINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER. 

